Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Shoe Tongue DIY

Last week I purchased a pair of leather shoes from a thrift store for $15. I believe only the tongue of the shoe was leather and the rest of the shoe was synthetic leather due to the texture and feeling hence why only the tongue of the shoe was completely worn out.

I decided to mend the tongue of the shoe by covering with fabric. At first I tried a floral print but I wanted a pattern that could go with any outfit. So my final conclusion was to use black floral lace from an old top I had in my fabric bin.

Since the floral lace had visible holes, I decided to paint the tongue with gold acrylic paint ( of course this medium is probably not the best for leather but I was working with what I had). I was going for a classy yet modern look with the lace (◠△◠✿).OK lets get started! You can do this to any shoe you have with a tongue~I will walk you through the steps below!Heres what I used:

PAINT: As for the paint, please look for FABRIC paint (or a fabric dye if you plan on DIYing canvas shoes)! A paintbrush is needed too unless you're happy with finger painting hehe.MOD PODGE: I went for the matte Mod Podge because I did not want any shine. There are many choices to choose from if you want a glossy or glittery look!
GLUE: I used Aleene's Tacky Glue to hold the bottom of the fabric down. You don't necessarily need this because Mod Podge can get the job done as well!

FABRIC: I used a black lace fabric from an old top, any kind of fabric you wish to use will do. You will need enough fabric to cover the tongue and it's sides.

oh and also a needle and thread the same colour of the fabric.Don't forget your shoes!

STEP 1

If you are using lace/crochet or sheer fabric and you don't like the current condition or colour of your tongue this is what you will do. If you are using a fabric that is not see through please skip this step.

Remove shoe laces and cover the shoe with masking tape and paper to avoid any drips.

Obtain the perfect fabric paint of your choice.

Paint the tongue using a paintbrush.

Why does the tongue look all bumpy on my shoes? I left some of the leather peeling off on the tongue for a nice texture.

a). Seal with Mod Podge for a matte look or glossy look depending on what Mod Podge bottle you picked up. ( IF you don't want raw edges to show on the bottom of the tongue, fold 0.5- 1 cm of the fabric before placing it on the glue).Then place your fabric on top of the tongue, leaving a minimum of half a cm on each edge and let it dry. Using the tacky glue or Mod Podge, fold the edges over and glue them in place on the back of the tongue.

or

b). Place fabric onto tongue leaving a min of 0.5 cm on all 3 edges. Stitch the fabric onto the tongue of your shoe and use tacky glue/Mod Podge to secure the bottom 4th edge. (You can also just stitch this part if your thread is the same exact colour of your fabric).

As you can see in the photo above, I decided stitched the fabric onto the tongue so that I have 3 sides of the fabric folded onto the back side of the tongue. If you've used the tacky glue or Mod Podge you should get the same look as the stitched method!

Voila!

Once all the glue is dry and stitching is done, put the shoelaces back in place or just admire your craftiness!

Hope you enjoyed this DIY, come back again to see my new DIY projects~

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About Me

Hello lovlies ♡ My name is Livy and I am a design student. I love fashion, kitties, sweets and DIYs! I started this blog to pass some time and share some parts of my life with you~ Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog~ You're all awesome!